Processor chips are utilized in computing devices to execute the functions and operations coded in programs for the respective computing device. Such computing devices include personal computers, servers handheld devices, console devices and similar computing devices. Processor chips have evolved from having a single execution core, or simply ‘core,’ to having multiple cores within the same chip or closely interconnected. The availability of multi-core chips has enabled parallel computing, where multiple instructions can be executed in parallel by each of the cores at the same time. This increases the computing throughput of the processor chips and functionality within computing devices that they support.
Each core can be an independent central processing unit (CPU) capable of reading program instructions from a memory device and executing these program instructions. Dual-, quad-, and even hexa-core processors have been developed for personal computing devices, while high performance server chips have been developed with upwards of ten, twenty, and more cores. Cores can be interconnected to one another and with other on-chip components utilizing an on-chip interconnect of wire conductors or other transmission media. Scaling the number of cores on a chip can challenge chip designers seeking to facilitate high-speed interconnection of the cores. A variety of interconnect architectures have been developed including ring bus interconnect architectures, among other examples.